I really enjoyed how you placed a video in your blog post. The video clearly explained what direct instruction is, how it is used, and its history. This was useful since if I were to use this teaching method, I would have clear instructions on how to facilitate it. Moreover, I appreciate how you connected the learning design to a personal example. I have also completed a few co-ops and as the term is quite short, I commend you for learning a topic and being able to teach it in the span of 4 months!
I appreciated how you implemented a few quotes at the beginning of your blog, I found this made reading about the learning design really clear. Moreover, the way you broke down the key reasons why your group is applying open pedagogy in your interactive resource made your argument convincing. After reading your blog, it made me consider using this learning design in my group’s project as well.
I agree with your argument that direct instruction should not be the only learning design model to be used. Although I am not a teacher like you, I am a student who has been taught using solely this method. For example, in my philosophy 100 class, the teacher would solely lecture with slides for hours on end, and I would find myself drifting off in class. I definitely agree with you that brain breaks are needed to increase information intake and student engagement.
I quite enjoyed the image you provided in your blog post, as I think it really sums up stress management. The brain is the main culprit when it comes to stress, making you overthink and worry. I believe that if we followed our heart’s true desires, it could be a tool to help relieve stress.
Cooperative learning is a teaching procedure embedded with specific learning strategies which allow students to learn through social interaction (Johnson & Johnson, 2009). Initially, when I heard about cooperative learning, I thought it was simply about placing students in groups. I realized the importance of this learning theory as I researched the benefits of changing the instructor’s role from a strictly top-down to a student-student approach. By working together in groups, cooperative learning ensures that learners can both listen and communicate with their peers as they work together to solve a problem (Brame & Biel, 2015). This is opposed to a traditional teaching style where the students are given a plethora of information from the teacher and then attempt to retain the information independently. Since learning occurs by building new synapses in the brain, practicing recalling that information can help strengthen those connections (Sorensen-Unruh, 2019). Therefore, communicating information through a social environment can help students recall information, and learn through the interaction (Brame & Biel, 2015).
The theoretical underpinnings of cooperative learning are based on the social interdependence theory. The positive type of social interdependence occurs when individuals in a group can depend on each other to achieve a common goal (Johnson & Johnson, 2009). The cooperative learning environment creates individual accountability for the outcome as scores are given individually and as a group (Brame & Biel, 2015). As a result, there is a promotive interaction, meaning the students will encourage and help each other achieve the goal (Johnson & Johnson, 2009).
I think that the cooperative learning approach could align with my group’s planned interactive learning resource. Our topic surrounds identifying different types and triggers of stress and learning various strategies to help manage emotional and physical stress. Since our learning resource is aimed at elementary students, I think placing learners in groups can benefit knowledge retention. After the students review the content, they can discuss with their peers the strategies they learned and which ones they may use in their lives. Consequently, this approach can strengthen their interpersonal and group processing skills.
Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (2009). An educational psychology success story: Social interdependence theory and cooperative learning. Educational Researcher, 38(5), 365-379. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X09339057
The blog post you wrote was fascinating as I learned more about you even though you discussed course content. I think my blog post sounded too formal, so I will take your writing as inspiration as your style is perfect for blogging. As someone who also hated swimming as a child, I particularly enjoyed reading about how you taught scarlet to swim. In retrospect, I believe my parents also used behaviorism when convincing me to learn to swim. When I was a child, I was very stubborn, but the behavior and reward system also helped me overcome this.
Knowing that your major is in computer science, it is unsurprising that you prefer the behaviorist instruction learning style. This is due to the structure that you mentioned which for every question there is a correct answer. I would say that I personally do not like this about math, as I am not excellent at memorizing black or white answers like you are. I guess this is why I am a sociologist as we focus on the shades of grey, meaning we look for the social systems that underly the black and white. Congruently, this aligns with the other learning styles, constructivism, and cognitivism. Lastly, I want to let you know that you are not alone in struggling with feeling if you chose the correct answer. I definitely feel that way too sometimes.
If I were someone who had no knowledge about these learning theories, I would have a great grasp of the concepts after reading your blog post. In other words, you did a great job providing explanations and examples. I enjoyed your example of the proper deadlifting form as I too enjoy weightlifting, and the various cues have also helped me. After reading your paragraph about cognitivism, I thought about my own experience with statistics. For the first midterm, my own beliefs and attitudes surrounding math were very self-deprecating. This resulted in a below-average grade. However, once I shifted my attitude towards a more positive outlook my grades reflected that.
I enjoyed reading your blog post as I can relate to utilizing the cognitive learning approach myself. I too find it helpful to connect new pieces of information to prior understandings. Since you mentioned that you utilize spaced learning sessions, I am wondering if you have ever heard of the Pomodoro study method? The method is based on studying for 25 minutes and then taking a 5-minute break. I have found it to be very useful in time management.
Welcome to my first blog post for EDCI 335. Today I will be describing three learning theories: behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. I will illustrate these theories with an example of a time when I was taught using each method.
Behaviourism
According to Ertmer & Newby (2013), behaviorism is a learning theory that focuses on the conditions of the environment to reinforce knowledge and behavior transfer. Utilizing behaviorism, the instructor would concentrate on specific cues and practice strategies to reinforce stimulus-response associations (Ertmer & Newby, 2013). Based on this definition, I can relate my current American Sign Language (ASL) course to this learning method. Although Ertmer and Newby (2013) point out that behaviorism cannot explain higher skills and deep processing like language development, I think it can apply to ASL. In the ASL class, the environmental condition took an active role in my learning as I was emersed in a strictly gestured communication style. The ASL classroom environment has allowed me to concentrate on the specific signing cues and with practice, it has improved my receptive and expressive skills.
Cognitivism is a learning theory that focuses on the mental activity of the learner and situates the best the learning strategies such as mental planning and goal setting (Ertmer & Newby, 2013). Cognitivism centers the learner as an active participant while connecting their prior understandings to new information (Ertmer & Newby, 2013). The perfect example of this learning theory in practice is this EDCI 335 course. When completing this blog post, I first looked at the prompts and then read the required readings. This allowed me to mentally plan what I was going to write about. Moreover, as I was writing my notes I highlighted important aspects of the text and added my personal examples of how this learning theory relates to me, which were then used as cues to complete this blog post. Consequently, this allowed me to understand how cognitivism works in the context of this class, differentiating it from behaviorism, and allowing for knowledge transfer.
The constructivism learning theory focuses on how the mind is constantly creating meaning through interactions and experiences (Ertmer & Newby, 2013). It is the specific interactions between the learner and the environment that allows knowledge formation (Ertmer & Newby, 2013). As a sociology major, the first thing that came to mind after reading this definition was the concept of socialization. Socialization refers to the ways in which we come to know the things that we are supposed to know about our society (Kidd & Teagle, 2012, p. 22). In my prior sociology classes, I have been asked to reflect on my socialization process to examine how my pasts interactions have formed my thought process and who I am today. This concept is central to constructivism as the learning theory holds that “the mind filters input from the world to produce its own unique reality” (Ertmer & Newby, 2013). For example, my parents have taught me how to view and interact with the world which has shaped my actions in society. I was taught that in order to be successful I had to build my career by going to university. Can you think of a way your socialization process has defined who you are today?
Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (2013). Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 26(2), 43-71.
Kidd, W., & Teagle, A. (2012). Culture and Identity. doi:10.1007/978-1-137-27251-5
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